


The Old Hero Ark

by Lucius_Jack



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucius_Jack/pseuds/Lucius_Jack
Summary: In a world where great heroes of legend are a part of every generation, they more often than not die. But, beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young.





	The Old Hero Ark

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a great evil nearly destroyed the world of Yignisoul. This villain was the most powerful the world had seen in nearly two-hundred years, an emperor from beyond the stars.

But like many great evils before it, this villain fell to a rag tag team of youths, led by a hero with power astounding. This hero’s name was Ark, he was the ace of the world, the protagonist, he touched the lives of everyone. His battle with the emperor nearly killed him, and he would have died like many heroes before, but he lived.

Three middle-aged men sat around the conference table of a Watchtower Base. Aside from the single hanging lightbulb that made the table look like it was burning, the room was pitch black. The men could hardly see each other’s bearded faces.

“I think it may be time to consider the suspect none of us want it to be,” said Enfro. “This man calling himself the Dragon has yet to even have a single blow landed on him, let alone face someone that can actually stop him.”

“Why does it matter? He always returns what he takes,” said Dime. “Even if it is him, I feel like that makes this thief even less of a target.”

“No, it is absolutely him,” said Lancer. “Stealing things just to prove they can be stolen is absolutely the kind of thing he would do. I agree that he is neither a threat nor a menace, but he has been invisible for decades now. Why expose himself?”

“Are you saying he’s gone rouge?” asked Dime.

“He did that a long time ago,” scoffed Enfro.

“You have your husband die before the honeymoon and then we will talk about what counts as going rouge!” spat back Dime.

“Two decades without any contact is far past just grieving! You know as well as I that he’s now nothing more than a lowly thief.” growled Enfro, cracking his giant boulder fists.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lancer said in a way that was both calm and demanding. “We need him now more than ever. I am going to find this ‘Dragon’ and make sure it is him. I… we need to know.” For once, after years of bickering, they all agreed on something.

If the thief was some nobody, Lancer could probably defeat them. If it was who he thought it was, then Lancer would not stand a chance, be they still a hero, or the final villain.

The town that had most recently fallen victim to the thievery of The Dragon was a little fishing village on a lake called Bounty Blue. It was literally on the lake, as a giant wooden pillar in the middle of it branched off into many street-like docks.

Recently their town hall was broken into, and the founder’s spear was stolen. There was nothing special about the weapon, aside from who it once belonged to. But that who made it important to the people who lived there, and they wanted that ancient fishing tool back.

Lancer hated the smell of fish, so he did not enjoy his time there, especially not the open-air hotel where he was staying. The smell of salt, rot, and grime filled his nostrils every moment of the day, so he was going to try and be quick about gathering info so that he could figure out where the Dragon was hiding. Lancer figured the best place to start would be just to go around and ask people.

“The spear was stolen? That is the first I have heard about it,” said an old lady at a café as she dug into her fried catfish.

“What spear?” responded a teenager before running off to watch another teenager eat a dead frog.

“Yeah it’s unfortunate,” said an old fisherman hauling in his catch. “but I have heard this ‘Dragon’ returns all the things he steals. I don’t know why he does it, but I don’t feel like there is a rush to get it.”

Lancer found that everyone he talked to responded in one of those ways. Lancer was about to give up hope and just wait until the next town to find out where the Dragon was hiding his hoard. But then, Lancer found someone who cared.

The girl in a floral dress could have been no older than fourteen. She had a big forehead and a bit of an overbite but that did not matter, all Lancer saw was the determination in her eyes. After some questioning, Lancer learned her name was Gilga, and got her to recount what she saw the night the spear was stolen.

“I was on one of my late-night walks, nothing was special about that night until it happened. I was right by town hall when the alarm sounded, and then the man in the dragon shaped mask broke through a glass window on the second floor. I am not sure if he could really fly, or just jump really far, but it looked like he was flying,” Gilga said, clenching her fists in her lap. She was sitting down at the edge of a dock, being sure to keep her feet out of the water.

“Did you see where he ‘flew’ off to?” Lancer asked.

“Yeah, the cave just outside of town,” Gilga said without looking at Lancer. That was all the info he needed. He could not have missed the giant hole in the mountain on the east side of the lake. Without another word, Lancer left to head into the Dragon’s lair.

The hike was long, long enough at least for it to eat up the rest of daylight. Lancer felt more comfortable and active in the dark anyway, so this was a good thing. Not that it would matter if the Dragon was… him.

At last, Lancer came to the mouth of the cave from the east side. He was still a good ten feet away, but he would see the faint orange glow of a fire. He considered turning invisible but decided that he would not need to use that power of his. So, Lancer continued pressing forward until he was finally able to see into the mouth.

There, not far from the entrance was a man behind a fire. At his side was a dragon shaped mask, and in his lap the spear. Lancer knew who it was, he could never forget the face, no, matter how big and scraggily the beard had become.

It was him, the hero of the previous era. The man who had saved the world from a threat more powerful than any in living memory. The one who’s legend would inspire billions for generations to come. The Chosen One, the Dragon, and Lancers best friend… Ark.

“Lancer?” Ark smiled that big dumb smile as he sprung up like a catapult and jumped over the fire, rushing towards Lancer and hugging him. “It’s been so long!” Ark let him go. “How have you been?”

“G… good. What is going on with you?” Lancer asked still shocked by the way Ark was acting.

“Oh, nothing much,” said Ark walking back over to the fire which was reflected on his copper bald head. “Just wondering the world, going on adventures, you know vagabond stuff.” He sat back down behind the fire. Lancer followed suit and sat across from him.

“No, I mean why are you stealing all these things? None of them have been that valuable, and even if they were you keep returning them. Is it just to challenge yourself?”

“Come on, you know there aren’t any challenges in the world left for me.”

“Exactly that is why I need you to come back. Why we need you,” Lancer said, trying to hold back the tears.

“I can’t. The world can’t rely on me anymore. I can still be its savior in the shadows for now, but I have been in the position of hero for too long,” Ark said somberly.

“But you must have sensed it too. The gears are turning, something big is coming,” Lancer pleaded.

“Yes, I keep up with the news. It’s not direct, but pieces are being put into place, political machinations are coming to the light, slumbering forces are waking up,” Ark said with an all too dark familiarity.

“Then why won’t you come? Why won’t you save the world again?”

“I will if I have too. But the world has relied on its old heroes for far too long. Even the Hero before me hasn’t been able to retire yet.”

“Grim? But you have already beaten him. You’ve beaten all of us. That’s why Harto fell in love… sorry I was talking faster than I should think,” Lancer said before making himself sad.

“It’s fine. Grim couldn’t beat Gal’Mal. And the hero before him wasn’t able to beat Akumaros. The power of this world and the threats it faces are escalating exponentially, and following previous trends what do you think is going to happen to me?” Lancer didn’t need to answer. In times before, the world seemed to be in a constant progress of making new heroes, even if most of them would fail. But now, the world had relied on the likes of Lancer with no younger heroes in sight. “I will try, I always do. But the world has relied on the previous generation of heroes for far longer than it should have. Some group of brash youngsters should have come and replaced us by now. But new heroes have not been made… so that is why I must be the one to do it.”

“Then come back and train someone. I still don’t understand how stealing artifacts would help you with finding a new hero,” Lancer said, hoping against hope that he would listen. But Ark never did, he always did things his own way. That was how he saved the world.

“I could not just find someone to train, a hero has to rise. Tell me, did you see some young person with a fire in their eyes while you were down in that town?” Lancer was shocked that he somehow knew. “I am going to take that pause as a yes…. Do me a favor, turn invisible and wait, I imagine it won’t be long now.”

“Long for what?”

“Just trust me,” Ark said with a smile. Lancer couldn’t help himself; he did what Ark asked. After turning invisible, he also moved to the side of the cave so that he could get a full view of what was about to occur. The worst that Lancer figured could happen would be nothing. Ark put on his dragon mask, and they both started to wait.

It must have been a few hours because by the time she showed up, Lancer could see the moon out of the west facing mouth of the cave. It was the girl from the dock. Gilga. She was wearing the same floral dress as before but now it was accompanied by some heavy boots and she carried a sword with a blade longer than she was tall. Then, in an action that looked like it took less effort than it should have, she pointed the giant sword at the now standing Ark.

“Dragon! Why have you brought such a bane to me home?” proclaimed Gilga.

‘Dragon’ did not answer. Ark was never much of a talker so now that he was putting on this act, it was not surprising that he chose to remain silent.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Gilga in an extreme tone. “I am going to take it back!”

With that proclamation, Gilga started to glow. At this point Lancer had no doubt, she was the apprentice of this town’s old master. Perhaps this master was some town hero in the past, or just an especially powerful relative, or perhaps even a Star Knight. Point was, that this girl knew what she was doing, the only question was how good she was.

Gilga charged forward carrying her sword with all its weight at the tip pointed at Ark.

Ark jumped over the fire and held his arms up to guard the attack, bracing himself like he was an iron wall.

Gilga was subsequently knocked back upon contacting the impenetrable force. That however did not dissuade her. Lancer suspected she expected something similar to this, that she more than anything just wanted to know how hard her opponent would be to hit. But Lancer also knew that Ark was doing this to test her strength. But why?

Ark’s abilities were far beyond anyone else’s alive, and it was unlikely that someone to match him would just appear out of nowhere, so if he was trying to win this fight, then why didn’t he just use his power? That was a pointless question though, Ark was testing her.

Gilga stood herself up, picking up her sword, and then in a single fluid motion, stabbing it into the ground. She once again began to glow but this time the glow was just slightly different. In the blink of an eye, two identical copies of herself appeared beside her. The trio of one rushed towards the Dragon.

Ark raised both his index fingers, bolts of energy shot forth hitting the clones, and destroying them in an imploding light.

Gilga had no time to realize what was going on before she received a fist to the face from Ark, once again slamming her onto the hard ground.

Gilga responded by taking advantage of her low position and sweeping Ark’s legs.

Ark almost fell into the fire, but he shifted his weight and preformed a backflip just in time to hurdle over it. He grabbed a burning log from within the flame and swung down on Gilga with it.

Gilga responded by chopping the log in half with such lightning quick speed that the fire was put out, leaving the cave in near complete darkness. The only light left was that from the moon.

Gilga took this opportunity to stab her sword once again into the ground and create two more copies of herself.

Ark used is battle awareness to prepare his counterattack. He held his palms out beside him and blue balls of crackling plasma started to form within them. As three swords hurled down on his head, Ark held up the orbs of energy and halted the attack, but not so much so that she wasn’t able to push forward.

Lancer could tell that Ark was struggling, even through the dark and through his mask. But the challenge was not to beat her or even to hold back. It was to just always be one step ahead of her.

Gilga continued to push forward with her two clones, until…

“You stepped on the campfire,” said the Dragon in a dark serious tone. “I win!” he said with glee.

Before, when Ark had picked up the log, that was not for an attack, that was to charge the ground with a shock. With a single stomp of Ark’s foot, the charge was released and Gilga went limp, her clones imploded.

Before the ragdoll Gilga hit the ground, Ark masquerading as the villain gripped her by the neck.

“If you give up now, you won’t have to stay in bed for the next year,” the Dragon growled. Gilga was clearly suffering, Lancer was afraid that his fears were confirmed, the years of isolation had changed his friend. Lancer was about to get up to stop him when he heard Gilga speak.

“FUCK YOU!” Gilga yelled with a righteous fury.

Lancer saw Ark loosen his grip ever so slightly.

Gilga regained some strength in her body and used every ounce of it to hit Ark in the balls.

Ark’s reaction of pain and collapse was real, before he could recover, Gilga swooped down, grabbed the spear and pointed the tip at Ark’s neck. But all she did was give him a quick kick to the head, grabbed her sword and took the spear away.

After being sure she was gone, Lancer returned to visibility.

“Ya alright?”

“Yea, just wasn’t expecting her to kick me in the dick,” Ark groaned painfully.

“Good on her for surprising you I say,” Lander said holding out his hand for his friend. Ark grabbed on and climbed back up to his feet. “But you still need to answer me something.”

“What is that?”

“Why this way? Why steal artifacts in the hope of attracting nobody kids to your den and fighting them? Why not come back with me, to us? Be the hero and train the next generation in the normal way,” said Lancer, Ark smiled.

“Do you remember when they started calling me the ACE?”

“When to beat Grim in that fight.”

“Yes, but. They would never have called me that if I was not already seen as a possible successor in the eyes of the public and when do you think that started?”

“Geez, I don’t know, you’ve won so many fights they all kind of blur together for me.”

“No, no, no, it wasn’t one of the ones I won, it was one of the ones I lost.”

“You mean the fight against Golkar? But you nearly… died.”

“Exactly, but I never gave up, even though he was so much stronger than me, I never gave up until he beat me hard. But then I trained, I got stronger, I broke through my limits.”

“You are trying to break people?”

“Yes, break them down, force them to go beyond, through and above that glass ceiling. I need to be that ultimate foe, the final boss that they aspire to beat. One day there will come a threat that even we can’t beat, even if not in our lifetime. History has shown this to be the case time and time again. Either way, the world will be left defenseless. But if I were to act as the villain, then not only will the young aspiring heroes of today have something to overcome, a mountain to climb. I could also be a safe version of that, let those who fail continue on with their lives, or maybe come back stronger. Then those who succeed will be even greater!”

“Did that girl succeed?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I will ever be able to definitively say I found THE hero. But I have found a hero.”

So, Lancer stood there, with his friend, the lost soldier of the old world. Lancer could tell that Ark just wanted to wander, and he figured that the man who saved the world several times deserved to take a retirement whenever and however he wants. But the guys deserved to know.

“Honestly the most shocking aspect of this is just how in character it is,” Dime said over the three-way phone call.

“I guess he’s gone by now?” asked Enfro.

“Probably, I turned away for a second, heard him say something cliché like ‘goodbye old friend’ and then when I turned around, he was gone. You know how he is,” Lancer said still waiting to be served his food at the diner.

“We should probably keep this quiet; you know that the higher ups would never stop bothering him if they even had a hint as to where he was,” Dime said.

“I will write in the report that Dragon is just some petty thief. I will give Gilga the credit for beating him and say that he was quick enough to get away from me. It is not like anyone will ever be able to actually catch him,” Lancer said already beginning to jot down some notes on his phone.

“You really took a shine to that girl, didn’t you?” asked Enfro sounding confused but also impressed.

“Yea, guess I did,” said Lancer, looking out into the distance he saw Gilga resting on the dock, looking satisfied. “I think the future is alright.”


End file.
